1. Field of the Invention
Body contact team sports such as ice hockey, lacrosse and football have progressed to a high degree of sophistication in recent years. With this progress, protecive equipment has been developed for protectng many areas of the body, including the head, kidneys, ribs and shoulders. Football equipment in particular has been developed to the point where some equipment is now used as a weapon, as well as for protection. For example, the new plastic helmets which utilize suspended webbing and foam padding are sometimes used as battering rams in the process of running, blocking and tackling, in a game which is becoming more intense, and the players more aggressive with each passing season. The comfortable and efficient helmets serve to give players a feeling of security, which results in increasing use of the head to force extra yards from a run or apply additional leverage in a block or tackle.
Unfortunately, use of the head as a battering ram in contact sports has resulted in a host of neck injuries which occur when the head is forced forward and downward by impact, and the cervical vertebrae in the neck are hyperflexed or extended and damaged, sometimes causing injury to the discs and/or spinal cord. Blows are delivered to a football player's helmeted head from all directions during a game, and among the most dangerous of these blows is the impact which causes extreme tension in these cervical vertebrae. Sometimes such injuries result from inexperience and/or lack of training, since an ever-increasing number of vertebrae-extension injuries are apparent in young players, and even in players of grade school age. These injuries can be fatal, and frequently result in paralysis, fainting, weakness in the extremities, constant and intermittant pain, and other physical abnormalities. Many less serious cases of strained neck muscles and tendons have been noted, together with the more serious cases of nerve damage, and disc and vertebrae injury. Since the head and neck must be substantially unrestrained to permit a full range of unrestricted motion in order for an athlete to effectively participate in most team contact sports, application of force to the head of a player is transferred directly to his neck, causing injuries of the nature described above.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Probably the most frequently used device for protecting against extreme hyper-flexure or extension of the neck due to an impact on the head in contact sports such as football, is the rubber collar which fits around the neck. Typical of this protection are the neck protector devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,872 to R. T. Mitchell, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,917, to D. F. Sims. The Mitchell device is a U-shaped, resilient member which fits around the neck and is maintained in position by attachment to other items of the athlete's protective gear, such as shoulder pads. The Sims protective device includes a shaped, resilient pad which also fits around the athlete's neck, and prevents movement of the head past a predetermined point during play. A similar device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,631 to Donald N. Ettinger, which protector is inflatable to define a circular tube which encircles the neck to provide protection against hyper-flexure and extension of the neck in athletic contests such as football. Another "Protective Football Apparatus" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,784 to R. F. McDavid, which apparatus attaches to the shoulder harness or pads of a football player and prevents extreme movement of the head in any direction, to reduce the likelihood of injuries to the neck and cervical spine. Recent research has indicated that the primary cause of serious neck injuries in football and other team contact sports is hyper-flexure or extension of the cervical vertebrae, which extension results in injury to the vertebrae, discs and/or spinal cord. This injury is usually caused by a blow applied to the head which forces the head violently forward and downward, extending the cervical spine to a point which stresses and causes injury to the vertebrae, and sometimes, irreparable damage to the discs and spinal cord. An effort to prevent injuries of this nature is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,029 to Joseph C. Germain, which includes an "Athletic Protective Device" for attachment to an athlete's shoulder pads at a point beneath his chin. The restraining apparatus spans the top segment of the shoulder pad breast plates, and is said to prevent forward and downward movement of an athlete's head beyond a predetermined, lowered position.
One of the problems inherent in prior art neck protective devices is the failure of such devices to restrain the head from movement sufficiently far downwardly to cause injury to the neck by extension of the cervical vertebrae. The compromise in favor of unrestrained head movement in many of the prior art neck protection devices permits extreme movement of the head downwardly to the point where injury to the cervical spine may not always be prevented, depending upon the age, experience and conditioning of the athlete.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a neck support device which is light in weight, easy to use and is compatible with existing protective apparatus used by athletes.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a protective device for the neck which includes a collar, or a collar segment or segments, each having at least one downwardly-extending frontal support which is secured to the athlete's upper body protective equipment, such as shoulder pads, which collar serves to contact the athlete's chin, and with the frontal support, prevents extreme flexure of the cervical spine resulting from forward and downward head movement due to a blow or blows to the athelete's head.
Another object of the invention is to provide a neck restraining apparatus which includes a collar means and at least one front support extending downwardly from the collar means at a point beneath the athlete's chin, and secured to the protective shoulder pad apparatus worn by the athlete, to intercept the athlete's chin at a predetermined point and prevent hyper-extension of the cervical vertebrae responsive to impact to the athlete's head.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a protective collar or collar segment or segments, which can be attached to the shoulder pads of an athlete, and which is provided with a downwardly-extending front support or supports which are also attached to the shoulder pads, the front support or supports being positioned beneath the athlete's chin and functional to prevent the athlete's head from descending past a predetermined point after the athlete's chin contacts the collar, collar segment or segments.